I often mention how it is the small things you consistently do or don't do during the selling process to build or diminish trust that makes the difference in your selling results. It is not "traditional" factors like skills-based sales training, personality, overall account strategy, closing techniques, overcoming objections, etc.
Since my advice on successful selling often goes against the "mainstream" established twenty or thirty years ago, I thought I'd post something to hopefully convince some of you that the seemingly "small things" can truly lead to big results.
Although these examples do not deal specifically with trust, they provide a great example of how seemingly small things can impact the way others perceive and behave toward us. And the perceptions of our prospects are really what we're dealing with when selling - right?
Example 1:
A large group of students was recruited for what they were told was a market research study by a company making high-tech headphones. They were each given a headset and told how well they worked with the listener was in motion – dancing up and down, say, or moving his or her head.
All of the students listened to the same songs and then heard a radio editorial arguing that tuition at their university should be raised from its present level of $587 to $750.
A third were told that while they listened to the taped radio editorial they should nod their head vigorously up and down (as you would to say “yes”).
The next third were told to shake their heads from side to side (as you would to say “no”).
The final third were the control group. They were told to keep their heads still.
When they were finished, all the students were given a short questionnaire, asking them questions about the quality of songs and the effect of the shaking. Slipped in at the end was the question the experimenters really wanted an answer to: “What do you feel would be an appropriate dollar amount for undergraduate tuition per year?”
The students who kept their heads still were unmoved by the editorial. The tuition amount that they guessed was appropriate was $582 – or just about where tuition was already.
Those who shook their heads from side to side (as you would to say “no”) as they listened to the editorial – even though they thought they were simply testing headset quality – disagreed strongly with the proposed increase. They wanted tuition to fall on average to $467 a year.
Those who were told to not their heads up and down (as you would to say “yes”), meanwhile, found the editorial very persuasive. They wanted tuition to rise, on average, to $646. The simple act of moving their heads up and down, ostensibly for another reason entirely – was sufficient to cause them to recommend a policy that would take money out of their own pockets.
Example 2:
A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do. Ellen Langer, a social psychologist, demonstrated this unsurprising fact by asking a small favor of people waiting in line to use a library copying machine.
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” - 94% let her skip in line.
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” – only 60% let her skip in line.
“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” – 93% let her skip in line.
At first glance, it appears the crucial difference between the two requests was the additional information provided by the words because I’m in a rush. However, a third type of request showed that this was not the case. It seems that it was not the whole series of words, but the first one, because, that made the difference. Instead of including a real reason for compliance, Langer’s third type of request used the word because and then, adding nothing new, merely restated the obvious.
Example 3:
In a 1940 study by Gregory Razran, subjects were asked to rate political slogans. Later, they were presented with the same set of political slogans and asked to rate them.
The psychologists found that only some slogan’s approval ratings improved – those that were shown while food was being eaten.
Razran also conducted a variation where foul smelling odors were piped into the room when the slogans were shown – and the approval ratings dropped.
By the way, these changes in liking seemed to happen without conscious knowledge of the participants because they could not even remember which slogans they saw while eating (or presumably when the foul odor was piped in).
These studies show how small things can make a big difference. So when your selling, remember it's the seemingly small details and behaviors used before, during and after prospect sales interactions that either build or destroy trust levels. And the level of trust prospects have in you, when you're selling, is often the determining factor for winning the business.
You can get a "flavor" for some of these small things that build or diminish trust with prospects when selling by clicking here.
HAVE Trust when Selling,
Rob Reed
www.Terrakon.com
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